# Unable to update existing index even though sincedb is deleted

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-update-existing-index-even-though-sincedb-is-deleted/48306>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [April 25, 2016, 11:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-update-existing-index-even-though-sincedb-is-deleted/48306 "2016-04-25T11:01:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gunjan\_Gupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/34f0e0/32.png) [@Gunjan\_Gupta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Gunjan_Gupta)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 11:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-update-existing-index-even-though-sincedb-is-deleted/48306/1 "2016-04-25T11:01:22Z")

</div>

**Step** :  
Initial Logstash.conf file:

input {  
file {  
path =\> "C:\Users\Downloads\logstash-tutorial.log\logstash-tutorial-dataset"  
start\_position =\> beginning  
ignore\_older =\> 0  
}  
}

filter {

```
grok {
    match => { "message" => "%{COMBINEDAPACHELOG}"}

}

geoip {
source => "clientip"
}

mutate {
convert => ["@version","integer"]
convert => ["host","integer"]
}

```

}

output {  
elasticsearch {  
action =\> "index"  
codec =\> "json"  
index =\> "perfmondataindexgraphana11"  
}  
}  
**Result** : Index created successfully

After this I commented " convert =\> ["host","integer"] " and then deleted sincedb file before running updated logstash.conf file.

**Result:** Got an error unable to parse field "host"

**Error stack:**

**ex"=\>"perfmondataindexgraphana11", "\_type"=\>"logs", "\_id"=\>"AVRNA4UBRi1p7WBX9LgO**  
**", "status"=\>400, "error"=\>{"type"=\>"mapper\_parsing\_exception", "reason"=\>"faile**  
**d to parse [host]", "caused\_by"=\>{"type"=\>"number\_format\_exception", "reason"=\>"**

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-update-existing-index-even-though-sincedb-is-deleted/48306/2 "2016-04-25T20:00:30Z")

</div>

That error message is incomplete, but it indicates that ES wants the `host` field to be an integer but the document you're trying to index doesn't contain an integer in that field.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gunjan\_Gupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/34f0e0/32.png) [@Gunjan\_Gupta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Gunjan_Gupta)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 6:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-update-existing-index-even-though-sincedb-is-deleted/48306/3 "2016-04-26T06:10:28Z")

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I know the reason as it was happened because I have commented "host" field while updating logstash.conf but my question is that why i am unable to update same index **_index =\> "perfmondataindexgraphana11"_** as whatever i am sending by using this config should not given me this error.  
Or is it like that we cannot update same index and need to create new index if i am updating any field.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-update-existing-index-even-though-sincedb-is-deleted/48306/4 "2016-04-26T16:39:19Z")

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You can certainly update an existing index but you can't change the type mappings.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gunjan\_Gupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/34f0e0/32.png) [@Gunjan\_Gupta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Gunjan_Gupta)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 10:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-update-existing-index-even-though-sincedb-is-deleted/48306/5 "2016-05-01T10:37:53Z")

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Thanks! Back for quick reply.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 4:59am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-update-existing-index-even-though-sincedb-is-deleted/48306/6 "2017-07-06T04:59:47Z")

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Closed on July 6, 2017, 4:59am UTC